Module 4

When watching the Terry Dugan videos, I actually learned some new things and there were things that I remember learning in previous classes. This past Spring semester in my Organizational Communication class, we actually went over the 8 elements of the communication process.  One thing that I am glad that was covered in these videos was the question of what is culture. I always thought that culture is what we were brought up in and passed through generations, so that was interesting to learn.  There were a couple of questions that he asked within his videos: Is common culture now based on advertising? Are we still learning from mass media?

Now, I can probably write an essay answering those questions. But to answer those questions in short; yes, I believe that common culture is now based on advertising and no, we are not still learning from mass media. An example that he used for this is in the 20th century, immigrants went to silent movies to learn how Americans acted so they can fit in. I don’t think that we are relying on media that way much anymore. Regarding to common culture and the ads. If we weren’t relying on ads or constantly looking at ads, would it be that necessary to learn how to deconstruct an ad? I do want to say that ads compromise a lot of our pop culture. What I liked from these videos is that he went over the different types of cultures: local, dominant, personal or bounded, and then subcultures. I never realized that we personally have so many different kinds of culture.

Now, lets get to the books. Can I just say that this is by far the most interesting textbook that I have ever read. Both chapter 6 and 8 really shocked me. All the numbers and information that was provided, I was like “woah”. What I liked about chapter six was how in the second paragraph it says “…today’s entire generation of kids is sexually active before high school” (Sternheimer, 2013, p. 139). No offense to those people, but that is kind of sad and kind of scares me since I have a little sister who just finished middle school (I feel like I act like her mother sometimes). But going into the next page, it talks about how its really not as bad as it seems. It is assumed that the media plays a role in early sexual activity, which is why Will Hays in 1934 created “the Code.” This censored media in strict ways, no sexual stuff or interracial relationships because it was deemed un-American. This lasted until 1966. On page 154 there is a sentence saying “our tendency to underestimate social structure and overstate the power of popular culture.” I agree with this completely. Yeah, there is a lot of sexual stuff on TV but according to Freud and Benjamin Spock, “sexual curiosity was natural.” Plus like a lot of things, we do things because of the environment we are surrounded in.

Chapter 8 got really personal to me, I have had many issues with my own body where it has lead to starving myself and eating very little.  What I liked about this chapter is that it didn’t really focus on the obesity aspect because we all know that. It focused on the possible role of media and eating disorders. According to Sternheimer, she mentioned that there were studies that show media does not cause eating disorders and there is a very little link, focus on the environment the person is in. On page 209, there is a sentence that hit me. It says that if you have parents who are very into  their diet and exercise, their child will get praised for having a thin appearance. Throughout high school, my dad told me that I was fat at least once a week and then there was my mom saying I was too skinny. I think you know where that story goes. But it comes down to the environment that you are in, I will admit that media has played a role for me as well, but mostly environment. One thing in this chapter that really shocked me was how “online communities of people with anorexia and bulimia sometimes encourage and support each other in their quest to get even thinner” (Sternheimer, 2013, p198). Even though there may only be a small link with media and eating disorders, I think we need to overcome that “you need to be skinny” standard as set by society.